Ruble Gains for Second Day as Crude Oil Trades at Two-Week High

By Alex Nicholson -
Dec 19, 2012

The ruble advanced for a second day
against the dollar as crude oil, the nation’s main export
earner, rose to a two-week high.

The ruble added 0.5 percent versus the dollar to 30.7150 by
the close in Moscow. It lost 0.3 percent versus the euro to
40.8050 and added 0.1 percent to 35.2555 against the central
bank’s target euro-dollar basket. An index of five-year
government bond yields compiled by the Micex rose five basis
points to 6.6317 percent.

Crude gained 0.9 percent to $88.69 a barrel in New York,
the highest since Dec. 3. Russia is the world’s biggest energy
exporter and oil and natural gas account for about 50 percent of
the nation’s government revenue. The ruble has gained 4.5
percent against the dollar this year compared with a 1 percent
gain for the Chinese yuan, a 2.7 percent drop for the rupee and
a 10.4 percent retreat for Brazil’s real.

Non-deliverable forwards showed the ruble at 31.1915 per
dollar in three months. The extra yield investors demand to own
Russia’s dollar bonds over U.S. Treasuries widened one basis
point to 162, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global Index shows.

The ruble slumped 1.1 percent against the dollar in the
first three days this week as importers of consumer goods bought
foreign currency during the year’s busiest shopping season. The
average Russian plans to spend the equivalent of $504 on
presents, parties and entertainment during the year-end
holidays, a 9 percent increase from the year before, the
Vedomosti newspaper reported on Dec. 4, citing a survey by
Deloitte.